Fracked Gas

Hydraulic Fracturing, or ‘Fracking’ is destroying the environment as well as communities near fracking sites.

Fracking consumes acres and acres of land, millions of gallons of water, and are abandoned at will, without consequences. Local water tables are rendered permanently undrinkable as fracking fluid seeps in. Areas with a lot of fracking also experience regular seismic activity, even if it is an area that previously wasn’t considered seismically active.

The extraction industry also sets up ‘Man Camps’ to house the tens of thousands of people who work on these projects. These camps have bought violent crime wherever they have popped up, particularly those near Native American reservations. Drug trafficking is a huge issue near man camps but perhaps the most concerning is sex trafficking as thousands of young women and underage girls are forced into prostitution.

According to the Atlantic:

“In 2012, the tribal police department reported more murders, fatal accidents, sexual assaults, domestic disputes, drug busts, gun threats, and human trafficking cases than in any year before. The surrounding counties offer similar reports. But there is one essential difference between Fort Berthold and the rest of North Dakota: The reservation’s population has more than doubled with an influx of non-Indian oil workers—over whom the tribe has little legal control.”

This is an example of what fracking does to the land. This was once boreal forest in Alberta Canada.